Working With Animals And Children: The
Challenges Of Staging ‘Wizard Of Oz’

by Debra Lawless

            The number one snack for one star of “The Wizard of Oz” at the Academy of Performing Arts Playhouse in Orleans is a low-fat, dried chicken medallion.

            That’s Ruby’s favorite. Ruby is an 18-month-old Yorkiepoo—a cross between a Yorkshire terrier and a miniature poodle—who was born in northern Vermont and now lives in Orleans. Ruby is playing Toto.

            “I have treats in every pocket of every coat, every pair of jeans,” says Liz Rego, a student at Nauset Regional High School in Orleans who plays Dorothy to Ruby’s Toto. “I’m finding them everywhere.”   

Carl Back as the Wizard in the Academy of Performing Arts’ production of “The Wizard of Oz.”

         For the past few weeks Ruby has been reporting with the rest of the cast to the Main Street theater around 6:15 p.m. for rehearsals. She returns home around 9:30 p.m. This is a big change in routine for a 10-pound dog who used to spend her winter evenings secure in her owner’s lap.

            “We’re thrilled that it all worked out,” says Karla Harrington, Ruby’s owner. “Ruby seems to be enjoying herself. When she comes home she’s all tuckered out.

            “It’s a smart little breed,” Harrington adds. “She’s pretty anxious to please.”

            To give Ruby a break during at least one performance a week, Ruby’s older sister Minou Sapphire (from a previous litter) recently became Ruby’s understudy. Minou prefers peanut butter snacks to dried chicken medallions. For each dog, the highlight of the play may be the climactic moment when she snatches and gobbles a hotdog that Professor Marvel is toasting over a fire. During intermission, both girls find relief in a stroll outside the theater.

            At her first rehearsal “Minou was a bit frightened, but she did a good job,” says Martha Whatley, who plays Glinda the Good Witch.

            “Minou was a little bit taken aback by how when you’re on a stage everything is a lot bigger than life,” says Peter Earle, the Academy’s artistic director who is directing “The Wizard.” “Ruby will do the lion’s share of the work, if you’ll excuse the pun.”

            Now let’s talk about the human stars. Back when Rego was in middle school she worked with Earle in her first musical. Last December, when Earle discovered it was not easy to cast a teenage Dorothy on Cape Cod, he remembered Rego.

            “It was kind of last minute,” Rego recalls. “No one was cast as Dorothy. He called and asked if I’d be interested.”

            In the original book, Dorothy was 11. Judy Garland was 17 when she played the part. Rego is 16.

            “When somebody sings ‘Over the Rainbow’ they’ve got to have some kind of yearning for something, and with an older girl you’ll get that,” Earle says.

            Of the rehearsals Rego says, “it’s fun, a lot of work.” And of her cast members, she says, “they’re kind of like a second family.”

            Rego was a fan of the classic 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” before she knew she’d play Dorothy. Now, although she has looked at the movie recently for inspiration, “I have to be careful because I don’t want to be just like Judy Garland.”

            During breaks in school, Rego’s friends run her lines with her. And Rego practices “when I’m just hanging around the house. I’ll just sing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ to get my voice in the right pitch,” she says. And, she adds, “I’m making sure I’m healthy. If you have a cold I say, ‘no, stay away from me.’”

            The Academy’s production has a cast of 35. Half of these are children, ages five-through-high school, who play the Munchkins, monkeys and residents of Oz.  Working with children doesn’t faze Earle, who has directed plays at Nauset Regional Middle School for 18 years.

            “The bigger challenge, of course, is how do you turn an MGM musical into something that works at the Academy?” he says.

            Kane Stanton, a student at Cape Cod Academy, will play the Tin Man. Peter Milsky, a 60-something actor, will play the Cowardly Lion. Milsky is “the consummate professional,” Earle says, and recently played Tevia in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Rick Smith, who will play the Scarecrow, is now in his 40s, and was about 15 when he first worked with Earle. Suzette Hutchinson, who teaches dance at the Academy, will play the Wicked Witch.

            But somehow it always comes back to Toto. “The challenge is to get the dog to move on command,” Earle says. One advantage of “The Wizard” is that Dorothy carries a basket and “would just go off and scoop the dog up wherever it is.”

            Also, someone has been prudently stationed at each stairway, Whatley says, so the dog cannot dash off stage.

            “It certainly is a different experience with a dog,” Whatley says. “As wonderful as they are, they’re still unpredictable.”

            “It you bribe them with treats, they’ll do anything,” Harrington says.

            And “between the dogs and the little children, nobody will be looking at anybody else,” Whatley adds.

            Opening night is tonight, Thursday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. The play will run for four weekends, through March 16, on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 and $16 for Academy members and groups. For tickets call the box office at 508-255-1963.

2/14/08